Working equipment of the straight shovel type



Oct. 15, 1968 R. I. VOITSEKHOVSKY L 3,405,322

WORKING EQUIPMENT OF THE STRAIGHT SHOVEL TYPE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1966 FIE] Oct. 15, 1968 R. l. VOITSEKHOVSKY L 3,405,822

WORKING EQUIPMENT OF THE STRAIGHT SHOVEL TYPE Filed Sept. 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,405,822 WORKING EQUIPMENT OF THE STRAIGHT SHOVEL TYPE Rostislav Igorevich Voitsekhovsky, Prospekt Nischins- ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A straight shovel excavator having a boom pivotably connected at one end to the excavator platform, and a carriage slidably mounted on the boom and pivotably supporting an arm which carries a bucket. A thrust drum is installed at the base of the boom for moving the carriage and the carriage is connected to the upper end of the boom via the thrust mechanism and to an upright on the platform via a pulley block of a suspension mechanism. Additional drums are rigidly connected to the thrust drum and the ends of ropes of the hoisting and suspension mechanism are secured thereto.

The present invention relates to working equipment of the straight shovel type for a single-bucket excavator, wherein the thrust force is transmitted by the aid of a flexible coupling and more specifically by means of a rope thrust mechanism.

One of the most difiicult processes in construction and mining is the loading of loose and lump materials. Singlebucket excavators complete with the working equipment of the straight shovel type are extensively employed for carrying out these operations.

At the present time, the most widely used designs are equipment of the straight shovel type, in which the handle is connected to a boom by a saddle-type bearing. There is also employed equipment with a crank-and-lever thrust mechanism, wherein the handle is articulated with a balance beam and thrust rack.

One of the main conditions for the effective loading of loose and lump materials by a bucket-type working body is, as has been shown by a number of investigations, the application of high efforts of intrusion in the lower part of the mine face. The known kinds of working equiprnent, however, such as the straight shovel, are capable of developing maximum digging efforts at a considerable height from the mine base, at the level of the thrust bank. On account of kinematical properties of the equipment, these efforts in the lower part of the main face are relatively small.

This limits the depth of intrusion of the bucket into the mine face and, hence, the amount of the material removed by the bucket. This decreases the efficiency of the excavators for loading operations.

Besides, the existing excavators equipped with the straight shovel have a relatively great height, and boom length, which is likely to complicate their use when passing through tunnels and mining underground mineral products. A decrease in the boom dimensions with a view of reducing the overall dimensions of the machine is likely to impair other important characteristics of the excavator, such as efforts on the bucket tooth, maximum digging radius, as well as the radius and height of unloading, etc.

When loading loose and lump materials, there are also employed a number of designs of specialized loading equipment.

Disadvantages of the loading equipment of the articulated-and-lever type are the relative complexity of the design and the necessity of providing two drive systems on the excavator, namely rope and hydraulic, which largely complicates the use of this equipment in its capacity of dual usage.

The telescopic exchangeable equipment has the considerable disadvantage that it is impossible to scoop the material at various levels of the mine depth, that is to say, it proves impracticable to form the mine surface in the case of overhang of material.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-said disadvantages, as well as to increase the radius of digging on the level of the excavator positioning and to enable the automatic performance of the horizontal progressive motion of the bucket together with the handle in the process of the intrusion thereof.

These objects are accomplished due to the fact that the handle together with the bucket is articulated on a carriage, movably mounted on the boom and connected to the fore end of the boom by the aid of a pulley block of the thrust mechanism, and to the excavator upright by means of a pulley block of a suspension mechanism.

In this case, the boom length, determined only by the value of the horizontal stroke of the handle together with the bucket, is relatively small, which contributes to a reduction in the overall dimensions of the excavator.

The thrust force acts thereby substantially in the dire ction of the bucket working movement, which is ensured by considerable efforts of the intrusion of the bucket.

The boom is practically subjected only to compressive forces, owing to which its weight, as compared to'that of the booms of existing straight shovels loaded by bending stresses, is relatively small.

The application of large forces of intrusion together with a decerase in the weight of the equipment is adapted to increase the useful volume capacity of the bucket and to increase the productive capacity of the excavator.

The automatic performance of the horizontal progressive motion of the bucket together with the handle in the process of the intrusion thereof is achieved due to the fact that rigidly connected to the drum of the thrust mechanism are additional drums, on which there are secured rope ends of the hoisting and suspension mechanisms. The ropes of the hoisting and suspension mechanisms run about the pulleys, provided accordingly on the rear end of the handle and on the carriage, and are secured at their other ends on the drums of the excavator winches.

The present invention will become more fully apparent from a consideration of the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation view of the proposed equipment, the dotted line showing its various working positions;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the securing of the ropes of the thrust, hoisting and suspension mechanisms.

As shown in FIG. 1, the working equipment comprises a bucket 1, a handle 2, a carriage 3, a boom 4, an upright 5 and thrust, hoisting and suspension mechanisms.

The bucket 1 with an opening bottom is rigidly connected to the handle 2. In the upper part of the handle there is articulated an additional member 6 complete with a pulley 7 of the hoisting mechanism (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2). The member 6 is intended for increasing the angle of turning the handle. The handle 2 is articulated on the carriage 3, and is provided with pulleys 8 and 9 of the mechanisms of suspension and thrust, respectively.

The carriage 3 is mounted on the boom 4 which functions as a guide therefor. The boom 4 is articulated on the turning platform of the excavator. On the fore end of the boom there are provided pulleys 1t] and 11 of the thrust mechanism.

The thrust mechanism for displacing the carriage 3 talong theboom 4, comprises pulleys 9, 10 and 11, rope 12 and the thrust drum 13, mounted on the turning platform of the excavator near the lower extremity of the boom 4. The thrust drum 13 is rigidly connected to additional drums14 and 15 (FIG. 2) of the mechanisms for suspension and hoisting (FIG. 2), respectively. The rope 12 runs about the pulleys 11, 9 and 10, and is securedat its ends to the thrust drum 13. The thrust drum 13 is drivenby means of a chain transmission v16 from ,the shaft of the main winch of the excavator, or is provided with a separate drive.

The turning platform supports upright 5'(FIG. 1) complete with pulleys 17 (FIGS. Land 2) of the hoisting mechanismv and pulleys 18 of the suspension mechanism. The hoisting mechanismis adapted for turning the handle 2 and hoisting the whole working equipment, and comprises pulleys 7, pulleys 17 and a rope 19. The rope 19 runs around the pulleys 7 and 17, and is secured at .one end to the hoisting drum 20 of the main winch of ;the excavator and at its other end to the drum 15 rigidly connected to the drum 13.

The suspension mechanism is adapted for efiecting horizontalmotion of the carriage 3 in the process of the bucket intrusion, as well as the return of the carriage into its initial position. The suspension mechanism comprises the pulleys 8 on the carriage 3, pulleys 18 provided on the upright 5, and a rope 21. The rope 21 runs about the pulleys 6 and 18, being secured at one of its ends to drum 22 for lifting the boom, the other end of the rope 21 being secured to profiled drum 14 which is rigidly connected to the thrust drum 13. The profile of the drum 14 is selected on the basis of conditions of horizontal rectilinear motion of the carriage with the thrust mechanism being operative and the hoisting drum 20 of the main winch being braked. The working cycle of the excavator with the working equipment described consists of operations of intrusion, scooping, hoisting, turning of the excavator so as to prepare it for unloading, the unloading proper, and turning of the excavator towards the mine face with the equipment being placed in its initial position.

The operation of intrusion is performed under the action of the thrust mechanism, effecting the motion of the carriage together with the bucket and handle from the position I to the position II (FIG. 1). The scooping is efiected by the hoisting mechanism displacing the handle together with the bucket from the position II into the position III. Under the action of the same mechanism there is effected the operation of hoisting, in which the bucket along with the handle, boom and carriage is moved from the position III to the position IV. The operations of turning the excavator so as to prepare it for unloading, unloading proper, and turning it towards the mine face are effected in ordinary manner. The placing of the equipment in the initial position is efiected simultaneously with the turning of the excavator towards the mine face, and is carried out by lowering the equipment, adjusted by the braking of the hoisting drum of the main winch, and drawing in the carriage resulting from the reversing of the thrust mechanism.

The described equipment is preferably intended for loading loose and lump materials in excavations, open mining, raw materials stockpiles, as well as for effecting underground operations when passing tunnels and mining the mineral products by the aid of a chamber method. This equipment may also be employed on building and quarry excavators.

What we claim is: ,1

1. Working equipment of the straight shovel type, comprising a rotatable platform, a boom having a rear end connected to the platform to permit the boom to swivel in a vertical" plane; a carriage slidably mounted on said boom; an arm connected to said 'carriage'to' permit it to turn in a vertical planeparallel to the boom; a bucket secured on the arm at the'lo'wef end thereof; an upright rigidly mounted on the platform;-a hoisting drum on the platform, two. pairs ofpulley blocks on the upright at the upper end thereof; two pairs of pulley blocks on said boom'at the front part thereof, furth'er' pulley blocks arranged at the' sides of saidcarriage; a pulley blockon the top side of said carriage; 'a' pulley block on said arm at the upper part thereof; a thrustdrum for moving said carriage installed on the platform at the'base 'of said boom and adapted for being driven by the excavator transmission; two additional drums rigidly connected to said thrust drum; a rope having a middle part which passes around the said pair of pulley blocks at the front part of said boom, the rope then passing around the said pulley blocks arranged at the sides of said carriage, and next passing around the second pair of said pulley blocks arranged at the front part of the said boom, the ends of the rope being secured on said thrust drum; a second rope havinga middle part which passes around said pulley block arranged in the upper part of said arm, the second rope then passing around the first pair of said pulley blocks on the upper end of said upright, one end of the second rope being secured to one of the said additional drums, the otherend ofthe rope being secured to the hoisting drum mounted on the excavator platform; a third rope having a middle part which passes around said pulley block mounted on the upper side of said carriage, and then over the second pair of said pulley blocks arranged on the upper end of said upright, one end of the third rope being secured to one of the said additional drums, and the other end of the third rope being secured to the excavator platform, the third rope being adjustable in length, said third rope together with the pulley blocks around which it passes and the drum to which it is secured, constituting the equipment suspension mechanism. 2. Working equipment as claimed in claim 1 comprising a further drum mounted on the excavator platform for lifting the boom, said other end of'the third rope being connected to the latter drum which can be utilized to accomplish said adjustment of the length of the third rope.

I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS I 999,953 8/ 1911Boehm 214j 13 4 1,236,112 8/1917 Scott 214- 134 

